We aim to generate 600 cr revenue from sanitary wear segment: Rajesh Mehra

Manesar  headquartered Jaquar Group is a rapidly growing multi-diversified ‘Complete Bathroom and Lighting Solutions’ brand with a turnover of INR 3123 Crores in 2017-18. The company primarily retail three brands including Artize dedicated to luxury segment, Jaquar the premium range and Essco dedicated to value segment.  The brand is present in more than 40 countries. Recently, the company has introduced its first flagship dealer store which will only retail Artize and Jaquar range.  Also present at launch, Rajesh Mehra, Director & Promoter, Jaquar Group interacted with indianretailer.com

‘Artize’ and ‘Jaquar’ are already well penetrated brands in terms of distribution. So, what was the rationale behind introducing this format? Also, how many more such stores the company is looking to open in near future?

Though we started as the faucet company; however, now we have evolved as the complete bathroom solution company. We sell a wide range of products including faucets, showers, sanitary ware, flushing systems amongst others.  Since, we have such large portfolio and number of designs, so display has to be in such manner that customer can experience entire range. Customers want to see the latest from the wide selection of choice. So we thought of having such store.

Also, luxury is just not in the product but in the ambience around.  This is our first flagship dealer store and we would continue to open such stores in the near future.  If we look at Artize, we already have around 250 stores pan India, but with this format we are looking to create difference the way brand is exposed to customer. In fact, we are redoing/revamping many of our stores to this format. Also, Jaquar is presented via more than 2000 dealer stores pan India will also be the part of the store.

What kind of demand do you see from your luxury segment? Do you see Indian market maturing for this segment?

As a manufacture, our focus is also on generating the demand. We are undisputed market leader in this segment. Even in the faucet segment, we hold around 60% market share. So as the market leader our responsibility is to add new dimensions to the market. We feel that by creating this kind of products and promoting efficiently, we are generating ample demand in the luxury space. Merely creating a brand is the not sufficient, you have to create complete environment, so the customer can understand the difference in the regular and the luxury products.

If you look at market almost 20-25 years ago, 80% of the market was dominated by the unorganized players. Jaquar has brought upon a change in the market overall by marketing initiatives and today the share of organized players stand around 30-35%. The demand is growing everywhere even in the small towns.

Which is your largest category? And going forward where will be the focus?

No doubt, faucets are our largest category; in fact, it is our largest category in terms of business revenue. But, now other verticals are also picking up very fast, for example, sanitary wear, this financial year we are expected to do the business of about 600 cr from this segment. Moreover, we would be spending more than 50 cr upgrading the manufacturing facility.

What are the plans for online channel?

The kind of category we operate in online might be not the viable channel for us. Though, we do see the potential in this channel but in the limited way. Since we sell functional product, our business is based on experience which we cannot deliver in the case of online. If we talk about bathroom range, globally more than 70-80% sales happen via showrooms only. However, we use social media actively to promote our products online.

How much investment is planned to scale up all three brands further?

We are looking to invest about 250 cr by the end of this financial year on many small projects.